[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] Her sweetness of character is even beyond her genius.

Nothing so pretty to look at as my garden!

I foresee that the Andersen and Fairy Tale fashion will not last; none of these things away from general nature do.

I prepare myself for all disappointments by expecting nothing.

I do not think very highly of Madame D'Arblay's books. The style is so strutting. She does so stalk about on Dr. Johnson's old stilts.

A novel should be as like life as a painting, but not as like life as a piece of waxwork.

Well, great authors are great people - but I believe that they are best seen at a distance.